Mar'2011 update - though I Commented that these indie authors may not really fit the original model if their fans aren't paying them $100/yr (Life Time Value). And I also asked for some examples from genres/media where artifact-production is more expensive than books/music - e.g. live-performance recorded as Video.

Dec'2010 Hugh MacLeodexample - Thank God the internet came along and changed everything. Suddenly I found myself making a damn good living, without having all those mainstream hoops to jump through first. Just by doodling wee, non-mainstream cartoons all day, to what by old mainstream standards would be a TINY audience that I reach via this blog, Twitter and my newsletter.

This is made possible because the web, as we all know, is a SUPERB way to sell relatively high-end products. In my case, private, client-based commissions are worth THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of times more than the advertising eyeballs that ultimately pay for the newspaper cartoonist’s mortgage. Of course they are. Not to mention, the commissions are fun and intellectually interesting to work on.

Which is why my advice for anyone trying to succeed on the web is, make the highest-end product you can, and then target the tiny handful of people- the microaudience- who are likely to buy it.